The KU Alumni Association hosted a happy hour in August (free food and beer!) and in the corner of the brewery, they had a giant inflatable Jayhawk. As soon as Carter saw it, he ran up to it and gave it a big hug (cue "AWWWW!" from everyone in attendance) - and I captured the sweet moment with my phone camera:
Hope you had a nice long Labor Day weekend!
Kerrie
PS Just a quick update on the daycare drama: Sandra
(Carter's teacher) was indicted, but only after the Attorney General passed the
decision off to a Grand Jury at the 11th hour. Sandra's immigration
status is in question (and before you get all judgmental on me and complain
about the illegals in this country, take a step back…). She was brought to this country by her
parents at age 9 and I can only guess that at NINE she wasn’t questioning her
citizenship or questioning whether the paperwork was filed to allow her to
freely stay in the US... While the
daycare DID complete the background checks during her hiring, they aren’t
required to check citizenship status.
And sure, I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think ANY state is required to fully
check and ask for documentation about your immigration status during a criminal
background check (sans Arizona…). So all
those idiots on the media pages throwing daggers at my daycare owners calling
for them to close up shop for hiring illegals, well, get off your soapbox. They followed the rules, they did the background
checks, and again, this is a horrible, unfortunate tragedy. Plus, I don’t frankly care WHAT your
citizenship is when you’re providing safe, loving care for my son!
I digress…
So because Sandra’s immigration status is in question, the
family (who I might add does NOT want to press charges - remember, the little boy that died was
Sandra’s nephew) cannot post bond. If
they post bond, Sandra will be transferred to an immigration holding facility
in El Paso and will subsequently be deported to Mexico. No one wins in that scenario.
As such, we all wait.
The Greenies were unable to attend Gabriel’s funeral (it was on a
Thursday), but we sent a generous sum of cash to Gabriel’s mother and a
heartfelt sympathy card. They’ve also opened
a bank account to help cover funeral and legal expenses. I also wrote a very thorough character
reference letter for Sandra and I will be the first in line to testify on her
behalf when it comes time to do so.
With our legal system moving so quickly here in New Mexico,
I can only imagine that Sandra’s case will not come up for 2 more years. The last case that I’ve read about was a
woman that left her 1 year old in the car while she went for a doctor’s
appointment. That was in 2009 and it’s
just NOW in the legal system. Sandra’s already
missed her own son’s 1st birthday by sitting in jail and will no
doubt miss many more. IF, and a big IF,
she is convicted of “child abuse resulting in death,” the _minimum_ punishment
is 18 years in jail. At age 19, that’s
nearly a lifetime…
Our heart still goes out to Sandra and the whole family. Wish I could invent that time machine and go
back to that horrible morning in August…
No comments:
Post a Comment